AutoStore

Founded in 1995, the company AutoStore specializes in the development of robots for warehouse automation. The "cube storage automation" technology allows robots to expand storage space in warehouses by up to 75%. The headquarters of the AutoStore are located in Norway and the USA, the company has offices in France, Germany, Norway, Japan, Great Britain, as well as a factory in the Polish city of Koszalin. Among the company's customers: Puma, Gucci, ASDA, Bosch, DHL, Texas Instruments. The company's products are officially sold on the Russian market.

History

2021

Access to Euronext Exchange

In October 2021, AutoStore held an IPO at a price of 31 Norwegian kroner apiece. As a result of the listing, the market capitalization of the Norwegian developers of warehouse robots amounted to 103.5 billion kronor (about $12.4 billion).

This IPO was the largest in Norway in two decades. The company placed securities on the Euronext stock exchange in Oslo. AutoStore raised 2.7 billion crowns ($325 million) from the issue of new shares, while existing owners such as Thomas H. Lee Partners, EQT and others sold shares worth 15.3 billion crowns ($1.8 billion). After the IPO, the number of AutoStore shares in free circulation will be about 17.4% of the total capital. On the first day of trading, the AutoStore quotation rate increased by 8.1% to 33.5 kroons.

The developer of robots for warehouses AutoStore went to the exchange

The money we receive from the IPO will be used primarily to reduce debt to a level more normal for a public company, said CEO Carl Johan Lier. He plans to reduce the leverage coefficient to about 2.5 from the current coefficient from 5 to 6.

Alecta Pensionsforsakring, FIL Investments, Mawer Investment Management and WCM Investment Management, committed to invest $200 million each ahead of the IPO.

By October 2021, AutoStore delivered a total of about 20 thousand robots deployed in more than 35 countries to automate warehouses. Companies, including ASDA, Gucci and Lufthansa, use robots to store their products, which allows them to use space four times more efficiently.

Earlier, SoftBank bought a 40% stake in a Norwegian company for $2.8 billion. SoftBank did not sell shares during the IPO.

SoftBank is a very good partner willing to help us get more attention in the APAC region... they have a large network of companies that could potentially be AutoStore customers, so we see great potential in this relationship, "Lier said.[1]

Softbank bought 40% of AutoStore for $2.8 billion

In early April 2021, the Japanese company SoftBank announced the acquisition of 40% of the Norwegian developer of robots for automation of warehouses AutoStore. The deal amounted to $2.8 billion, an estimate of AutoStore - $7.7 billion. The deal is expected to close in April 2021.

SoftBank, which has made a number of investments in e-commerce and robotics over the past few years, is buying a stake in AutoStore from the American direct investment group Thomas H. Lee Partners and venture capital company EQT from Sweden.

Softbank acquired 40% of AutoStore for $2.8 billion

We see AutoStore as the main technology that provides fast and cost-effective logistics for companies around the world, "said SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son. SoftBank management hopes that cooperation with AutoStore will allow the company to enter new markets and expand the geography of service provision.

According to AutoStore, the company has deployed 20 thousand of its robots at 600 sites in 35 countries, its technology allows customers to store either four times more goods in the same space, or all their existing inventory in 25% of the space. AutoStore customers include American electric retailer Best Buy, Swedish telecommunications company Siemens and the British grocery store chain Asda.^[2]

Notes